Charlie nodded almost numbly as the Captain spoke, the words washing over her like tidal waves, knocking her down and leaving her to drown.  He expected them to go outside - out there with the Reavers.  The idea left her feeling weak in the knees.  She wasn't even sure if she could make it off the bridge.  But as the Captain said - there was no time.  So she moved towards the engine room to get what they needed.

[To Destiny: Engine Room]

As the bridge emptied Ren was left alone.  He monitored the wave frequencies ... something odd was happening though.  Every once in a while he'd make a connection, just to have it drop a few seconds later.  Or he'd get one with only static.  So he sent out a sensor, trying to get a reading on the other ships nearby ... his blood turned cold.

There were other ships out there alright - at least 10 that stood out however ... they were running hot ... they were Reaver ships.  This wasn't just a Reaver raid - this was a complete massacre.  As he watched a ship detached from the station - a Firefly class - it didn't get far.  One minute it was there, the next it blinked out of existance on the radar.  The Reavers weren't going to let anyone leave.  Even if Kale figured out how to get them unstuck they weren't going to get any further from the station then a few yards ... this could very well be the last time Ren ever sat behind the controls.

Ren swallowed hard, if he'd had time to eat earlier, it probably would have come up, even it was still hard for him to fight back tears. Not for himself exactly, although for him and Acacia yes, but even more for the crew, for Kale who strove make things better for everyone. For Geoff, Wei and Connor who joined up because Kale was a good man and they thought he'd give them a fair chance. Most mostly for Lei and Charlie, the relative innocents, the ones who deserved a better chance. Even then, he wondered in the back of his mind, if Rhaef was right to get out when he did.

Funny thing was Ren knew better, if Rhaef were here he'd be down in the cargo bay, sneering ready to fight with the Reavers. Or better he'd probably under the ship cutting them loose. Fighting to the last, just like all of them. So would Ren. He steeled his nerves against the fear he felt, turned back to the consoles, since the first day he'd sat in this chair, this ship felt like an extension of him, of his mind and his reflexes.

Ren began looking at the charts and maps and station schematics, anything to give him a clue, a chance, a glimmer of a way out and around the Reavers. If they were going down, they were going down fighting.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ F L A S H B A C K ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"So, ya think ya can fly this thing?" Kale asked, standing behind the pilots seat, his hands resting on the back.  The man sitting in the pilots chair wasn't Rhaef though but a man by the name of Reiner.  Kale still winced slightly when he thought of the mess Destiny had been in when he'd met this guy.  He was beginning to discover that everytime they tried to do a job things somehow ended up going awry - Kale really hoped that that pattern was going to end soon and not become a habit.  He had faith though, things would get easier.  They wouldn't be fighting for their lives on every job.

He turned his attention back to the Ren.  The man was a damn good pilot.  Kale had never even seen some of the manuevers he'd pulled back on Jiangyin as they tried to get away from the authorities.  And he was certainly friendly enough, seemed to get along with both Charlie and Rhaef - so Kale had offered him a job.  Rhaef's job actually ... he'd speak to Rhaef about that later though.  He raised his brow then, waiting for Ren's response.

Ren barely heard the man talking, even though he knew he was the Captain. Ren was listening to the song of the ship, hearing her hum and sing under his hands. The consoles seemed like they were built for him, and his mind was already flipping between them, doing a mental pre-flight. Ren knew it was time for him to fly something else, and this ship was beautiful, almost felt like an extension of him. He turned back to the Captain, "Fly her, Mr. Galway, beautiful girl like this, I can dance her on the head of pin, although she'd be doing all the work." Ren shurgged, "More to the question, is why do you want to hire someone like me?"

Kale laughed, the question was absurd to him, "After the stunt ya pulled back on Jiangyin?  I'd have ta be ruttin' crazy not ta hire ya.  Ain't no one fly like that - sides, yer references ya got here are testament that yer the best.  What I'm askin' myself though is why ya'd want ta fly with a crew like mine?" Kale said, with a grin, shooting the question right back at the man.

Ren shurgged, "That's easy, Captain Galway, you want to hire me. Most folks get scared off by a gypsy, especially one with a bit of history for stowawaying, and a penchant for shall we say more daring than necessary flying. You're crew interests me, you need a pilot, and seems like the best chance I can get to make my way in the world."  Ren answered honestly.

"Well then, let's see what you can do." Kale said, and watched as Ren got ready to take Destiny out into the black.

Ren smiled, and hit the intercomm, with a smile, "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking, please prepare for lift off." With that Ren eased Destiny into the air, the ship seemed to respond to his control almost instinctively. Within moments, they were in the black, fairly uneventfully, Ren smiled. It felt good to be home, he checked the printouts and consoles for any surprises and saw none, "So where to, Captain?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ E N D    F L A S H B A C K ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ren came back from his minor reverie and continued to look at the screen, watching helplessly as the events unfolded around him, a part of him wished he was somewhere else, back on Paquin with Acacia, working with his family. Yet at the same time, he needed to stay focused, Wei and Geoff where still out there, and Charlie and Kale were about to take a huge risk, and when everyone got back on board, he'd have to be ready to fly the Destiny out on a dime. He be damned if those vultures would get them if he could help it.

[From Destiny: Rhaef's Bunk]

Kale didn't even completely enter the bridge, his arms full of bottles of alcohol he looked to Ren, "Any luck up here?" he asked, wondering if Ren had been able to get into contact with any other ships.  It still didn't sit completely right with him for them to be cutting the cord and setting the ships afloat without being able to give any warning.  But he also knew that when if came down to it his ship and his crew came first - it had to ... it was all he had in the 'verse.  He didn't know how he could have forgotten that so much lately.  His mind just kept berating him over and over again on how awful he'd been acting lately.  Snapping at everyone all the time - working them to exhaustion ... he'd been especially hard on Ren and Charlie though, having been with them the longest.  He was almost ashamed to speak to them now.

"I'm gonna need ya in the bay here right quick ... got some plannin' ta do." he added.

Ren looked back at Kale, his eyes sensing the Captain's fears and concerns, "Nothing Cap'n. But Kale, its worse - whole fleet of Reaver ships outside, even if we do get free, going to take a hell of flying job to get out."

He paused, and then he said what he been dreading, "But if we loose those other ships, they might go after them first, giving us just enough of an opening." He hated the thought of sacrificing them, but it might have to be done.

Kale felt his heart sinking but just nodded ... there was nothing to say to that.  Of course there was a whole gorram fleet of Reavers out there circling the station.  Nothing could ever be simple.  Kale wasn't even surprised, just resigned to the fact that that was one more thing they'd have to somehow figure out a way around, "Right ... well come on - nothin' you can do up here and we're gonna need all the help we can get." he said, pushing some of the bottles that were slipping from his arms Ren's way as the man stood up to join him.

[To Destiny: Cargo Bay]

Ren nodded solmenly and took the bottles, wasn't anything they could at this point. He simply followed the Captain out to the cargo bay, ready to help whatever way necessary.

---> Cargo Bay

[From Destiny: Cargo Bay]

Lei moved silently into the cockpit and sidled up into the pilots chair.  Kale had told her she wasn't allowed to touch the controls ... but she figured just this once it would be okay.  She just hoped he didn't yell at her later.  Lei started down at the many buttons and switches and dials.  She'd never flown the ship before but she had read about it and Kyoko had given her that training program which had been extremely easy - and she had watched Ren do this a million times.  She closed her eyes for a moment, visualizing the proper procedure in her head and then reached out her small, child's hand to flip the appropriate switches.  The engine hummed to life and Lei smiled.

Okay, this one goes on and then you just pull back here ... suddenly she felt the ship shift, it lurched violently for a moment and scraped up along the side of the station, Oops ... Lei thought and placed her hands more firmly on the yoke, pulling it to the right to straighten the ship out.  Her hands were shaking and her breath was coming out shallowly, she was scared.  Maybe she shouldn't be doing this ...

The stations metal walls came to an end and she could see the blackness of space looming before her.  It was breathtaking.  Lei carefully kept the ship going steadily forward and through the opening.  And then she felt as though her heart was about to stop beating.  There were tons of ships outside, big, mishapen blood stained hunks of metal ... Reavers ...

Lei went with her instincts.  She had seen Ren do this before, a 'hard burn' he called it.  Lei pulled down on the lever and held on tight.  The ship began shooting forwards.  It was being hit though, jostled about.  The Reavers weren't going to let them go.  Come on ... come on ... Lei thought.  She didn't know what else to do but keep going forward.  She didn't know how to do the fancy twists and turns that Ren would use so she just tried to go faster.  She knew that it was bad for the engine and she was afraid Charlie might be angry with her too but she kept going.

She could still hear the shouts of the others down in the cargo bay and she hit the comm button for the cargo bay and spoke into it - it was the first time she'd ever done this, "Um ... this is Lei ... I'm on the bridge - don't be mad but I we are now going far away really fast." she said.

After their daring escape from Torrance Station the crew of Destiny was left broken and beaten ... and one crew member short.  The mourning had just begun for the crew but they had to press on.  They dropped the young boy which Kale, Geoff, and Wei-Li had saved off with his father and then turned to Paquin for Ren's funeral.  It was a short trip that left all of them with heavy hearts but Ren's death had effected no one as hard as Acacia.  So two weeks later found the crew of Destiny on Osiris saying goodbye to their doctor.

And although he was millions of miles away, as Destiny and her crew suffered ... so did Rhaef ...
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:27, Sat 13 Oct 2007.

[From Destiny: Dining Hall]

Kale stepped onto the bridge and slid into the pilot seat - an act that always felt awkward to him.  The pilot seat was Ren's seat and Kale still didn't like trying to fill his shoes.  Kale usually avoided the bridge as much as possible, place felt empty without Ren there, too quiet, too cold.  Kale pushed these thoughts from his mind however and hit a button beneath the red indicator light.  The screen on the control panel went black for a moment and then a man that Kale didn't recognize appeared on the screen.  He had short cut hair and dark brows.  He didn't say anything for a moment, just stared evenly at Kale as though he could see him even though this was only a message.  He smirked slightly and began to speak.

(From Connor's Bunk)

Connor came onto the bridge, walking in slowly and looking around. He'd never actually been up here for any length of time...his skills hadn't been needed, which could be viewed as a good thing, and a testament to Charlie's skill with the ship.

"Greetings.  I hope you will pardon the interruption but I believe I have some information that will be of great interest to you, Captain Galway, great interest to us both.  It seems that you and I have something in common - a mutual friend.  A Mr. Rhaef Sorandash.  A man who's well-being is a great concern of mine. I have reason to believe that since you ... misplaced him - he's found himself in a rather sticky situation." the man shifted slightly but his face was still cast in shadows, "You are familiar with the Beaumonde Underground I'm sure.  There is a hidden base there - an old smugglers hideout - located beneath the Bitter End pub.  He's there.  And he's in danger. Even rogue's need saving every now and then.  Oh and Captain - do hurry."

Connor stopped when he heard the message. Or rather, overheard. Now he really wasn't sure whether or not he should interrupt. Connor waited to see just how the captain would react. The last thing he wanted to do was set Kale off...

Kale's eyes narrowed as the shadowy figure on the screen began to speak.  His features were hard to make out but Kale was fairly certain that he had never seen the man before in his life - but the man knew who he was clearly since he had addressed him by name.  Kale was so busy trying to figure out where he might have possibly met the man on screen that he had to do a double take when he mentioned Rhaef.

... Rhaef.  His old first mate.  His friend in truth, even if their relationship had always been a rocky one.  The man had his attention.  Rhaef leaving the ship had left just as much of a hole as Ren's death.  It was odd but for Kale his leaving was even harder to deal with.  Ren - he hadn't chosen his fate.  He hadn't wanted to leave.  Ren hadn't left because of Kale.  But Rhaef ... well that was Kale's fault.  He'd driven him away and then out of pure stubbornness refused to go after him and now - now he was in danger if this man could be believed.  And he had to believe him, didn't he?  He couldn't take the risk of ignoring this anonymous tip if there was truth to it.

The man's image vanished and the screen went to static for a moment and then black.  Kale continued to stare at it for a few long moments after.  He might have stared at it longer if it weren't for the slight stirring of Connor behind him.  Kale turned his head, "Ya heard that didn't ya?  Any chance you can track where that wave came from?"

Now that Kale had spoken his mind was racing.  If Rhaef was in trouble they had to act quickly but not irrationally.  Kale had done that one too many times.  They had to think this through.  First step was to figure out who the hell that man was and why he was telling him this.  Mutual friend ... far as Kale knew Rhaef had no friends.  It was something he used to rag on Rhaef about but now it seemed a lot less funny.

The crew - the rest of the crew had to know.  They had to decide this together.  Kale didn't wait for Connor to respond to his question before he was grabbing the comm, "I need all hands on the bridge.  Now.  We got us a situation."

Connor nodded his head to the captain.

"If the wave was clear...I can track it right to the source..."